In Raleigh on Monday night, the Washington Capitals fell to the Carolina Hurricanes, a thing they can do only one more time, tops. Here’s how it went.
Shayne Gostisbehere turned some fancy puck-handling into the game’s first goal, the only one of the first period. Seth Jarvis made it 2-0 in the second period, cleaning up a rebound from Sebastian Aho to beat Logan Thompson.
Five minutes into the third period, Matt Roy served the puck to Jakob Chychrun, crashing the net to put the Caps on the board for freaking finally. Taylor Hall stuffed the Caps back in their two-goal hole with a breakaway. On a five-on-three powerplay, Alex Ovechkin scored a big goal from the Ovi Spot to bring the Caps back within striking distance momentarily. But Sean Walker made it 4-2 after Rasmus Sandin’s stick got stuck in the boards. Andrei Svechnikov scored the empty netter as soon as the Thompson fled the crease.
Caps lose. Canes lead the series 3-1.
- The Carolina Hurricanes had scored six goals in a row in this series until Roy hooked up with Chychrun. That was a miserable stretch of time. But then that goal happened, and we were in the relative bliss of merely a one-goal deficit for three minutes and six seconds. Then back into hell.
- Like a farcical retread of the last game, the Caps had some great chances early on. McMichael almost scored in the first minute. Protas hit the post on the next shift. It was a nice start, sure, but nothing beat Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, who had a flawless 106-minute streak ending in the third period.
- At the other end of the ice sheet, Logan Thompson was just okay. This one from Jarvis bothered me, coming as Thompson bobbled the save on Aho’s initial shot and then lost it in the corner.
- The Hall goal was a kick in the teeth or something softer. It came while the Caps were trying to do some aggressive forechecking, which they’re neither licensed nor bonded to do. The Canes can do that, sure, but when John Carlson does it, the puck’s in their net.
- I don’t believe him, but Tom Wilson wants us to think he was having fun, mixing it up with plural Canes near the end of the second period. Kind of stunned he didn’t get any penalties.
- Going by shot-attempt differential, Alex Alexeyev seems to have had his best game of the series, maybe by dint of not getting much ice time. He was on for the Gostisbehere () goal.
- John Carlson was NOT on the ice for the Gostisbehere goal, which is equally as bullet-worthy.
- Were I Pierre-Luc Dubois, I simply would not have tackled a dude to the ice while trying to mount a comeback in the third period of a playoff game. Reasonable minds may differ.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 77th playoff goal, passing Mario Lemieux. Surely, Lemieux is recording a congratulatory video as we speak. We will update this story when that happens
I hated the Ovechkin goal. I had finally become numb to the idea of losing this game, series, and season. I could have thousand-yard-stared my way into summertime. But then Ovi did his thing, and I was forced to feel again. That’s the insidious thing about this team. Just when you try to check out, they pull you back in. And that’s when you really get hurt.
But down 3-1 to the best-looking team of the postseason, the opportunities for the Capitals to hurt you are dwindling. Teams come back from 3-1 all the time, but is it ethical to do so? Consider the anxiety you would have to endure. Maybe the kinder thing for them to do is suck badly just one more time on Thursday and then fade into the obscurity of summer.
